Safety shields for shielding needles of medical devices are well known in the art. Safety shields minimize the risks associated with inadvertent needle stick injuries which subject doctors, nurses and medical personnel to exposure to HIV, hepatitis and other serious blood-borne pathogens.
Passively activated safety shield devices are also known in the art. Typically, such devices actuate the safety shield in response to normal usage of a medical device to which the safety shield device is attached, e.g., actuation of a plunger assembly of the medical device. Such devices tend to be overly complex and expensive to manufacture.
Accordingly, a continuing need exists in the art for a passively actuated safety shield for use with a medical device which is of less complexity than known devices and can be inexpensively manufactured.